Long before the days of refrigeration, pickling was the go-to form of food preservation. Mesopotamians were pickling cucumbers as far back as 2030 BC—that’s about 4000 years before Katz’s Deli ever served its first Kosher dill.
Whether vegetables and fruits are packed in salt or left to linger in vinegar, pickling allows people to savor the bounty of the growing season well into the winter. And while pickling techniques have evolved well beyond simple, basic brines, the basic principles remain the same.
From Italian gardiniera to Indian mango pickle, we’ve rounded up 10 of the most popular pickled foods across the globe, and provided recipes so you can bring a world of pickles into your own kitchen.
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